"YAZ" 2007 Obituary

YAZDANFAR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-09-24 published
'It's a tragedy and should never have occurred'
By Guy DICKSON/DIXON,
Page L1
The Toronto woman who died after undergoing a routine liposuction
procedure last week was young and in good health, her employer
said yesterday.
Tom BOSLEY, president of Bosley Real Estate, the Toronto real-estate
company where Krista
STRYLAND worked, said he couldn't even understand
why she had the procedure in the first place.
"It's a tragedy and should never have occurred," said Mr.
BOSLEY.
"Basically she went to a clinic she shouldn't have been at… I
don't understand why she even was doing it, to be honest with
you. She was young, vibrant, very healthy, absolutely nothing
wrong with her."
A successful realtor in Toronto's leafy Davisville neighbourhood
and a mother in her 30s, Ms.
STRYLAND's heart stopped soon after
having liposuction in her abdomen at the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic
on Thursday. She went into cardiac arrest while still at the
clinic and later died at North York General Hospital.
The coroner's office is investigating the death.
The doctor who performed the operation is a general practitioner
who specializes in liposuction and is not a licensed plastic
surgeon, according to reports.
Many plastic surgeons say that Ms.
STRYLAND's death has highlighted
a major problem in the Canadian medical world: While plastic
surgeons must undergo licensing and adhere to strict regulations,
there's little to stop general practitioners from calling themselves
cosmetic surgeons and performing such procedures, even though
they don't have the training that plastic surgeons do.
Sean RICE, a plastic surgeon at North York General, was on duty
Thursday and was called down to help revive Ms.
STRYLAND. "I
think the big question people need to ask is who is the physician
performing the procedure. The push now is that everyone is calling
themselves a cosmetic surgeon," said Doctor
RICE. "And there's no
regulation at this point in time to [stop physicians from] calling
themselves 'cosmetic surgeon' and not even be a surgeon."
No one at the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic was available to comment
yesterday; a receptionist said she wasn't able to relay any messages.
According to the clinic's website, Behnaz
YAZDANFAR is the resident
liposuction specialist. Doctor
YAZDANFAR is listed on the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario website as a general practitioner
with no specialty.
She was not available for comment yesterday.
"The only way that the public can educate themselves would be
to phone the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons and ask them
whether [a doctor] is a real plastic surgeon, or call the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and look up that person's
name and their qualifications. Because right now, you can call
yourself anything you want," Doctor
RICE said.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has been debating
new regulations to govern doctors who branch out into lucrative,
uninsured practices such as cosmetic surgery. Procedures like
liposuction can earn doctors thousands of dollars. At the Toronto
Cosmetic Clinic, the cost of liposuction starts at $2,500, according
to its website.
In November of 2000, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Ontario drafted a policy effective October of 2002 stating that
physicians changing the scope of their practice must "obtain
an appropriate assessment of their knowledge, judgment and skills
in the new area of practice, and possibly, appropriate education
or training if the assessment results so indicate."
The policy statement even used the hypothetical example of "a
family physician who wishes to perform cosmetic surgical procedures."
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has since announced
"its intent to require physicians to report a change in their
scope of practice," according to the most recent issue of Dialogue,
a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario publication.
"College policies rely on physicians to come forward of their
own volition if they wish to change their scope of practice or
re-enter practice," reported the July 2007 issue of the publication.
"The consequence of voluntary self-reporting is that some physicians
do report and undergo the training, supervision and assessment
required by the policies, while others do not. The policies are
intended to ensure that a physician has the skills, training
and experience necessary to practise in the area in which the
physician chooses to practise."
In the last four years there has been a 150 per cent jump in
the number of Ontario doctors who say they are performing cosmetic
surgeries, according to a recent report by the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation.
"It is one of those incredibly unfortunate events for everyone
involved," Doctor
RICE said. "It's a very rare occurrence following
any cosmetic procedure - or any procedure, period. Following
liposuction, there have been some [occurrences] in the past.
But with new changes in guidelines and new equipment, the chances
are very, very minimal.
"What the actual cause was will have to come out of the coroner's
inquest."
Ms. STRYLAND's boss said her death was completely unnecessary.
"Being a family company, we feel like we lost a member of our
family," Mr.
BOSLEY said. "Our agents are just devastated. It
should never have happened."